I found an article critizing Linux Mint website appearance

[ajgreeny]

If we're not careful we will be back to the dis ussion about green being a bad colour for the forum!

For goodness sake; it's a forum where users post about problems so it's the content that matters more than the design or colour so let's not worry about this.

[motoryzen]

There'll be those who question why this topic keeps getting repeated, but the fact that it does is a clue that something's not quite right.

I'm on the record as saying the LM website (not the forum) needs a refresh. Contrary to some opinions, the navigation is not good and there are other areas that would benefit with improvement. Summary here: viewtopic.php?p=1914477#p1914477

The LM blog doesn't seem to provoke any negatives, so in my mind that probably wouldn't be a bad colour palette that could be replicated on the website (and on the forum) thereby consolidating a single identity across all three. [...]

Niooooiiiiice . I"d up vote that update. Bottom line is as long as the site is just as intuitive aka easy to navigate ( or especially if that's improved) and it remains rock solid stable with the proper/coherent content options available to click on...I'm game.

[motoryzen]

"" Wordpress is a mess of a cms ""

I'll bet anything Wendell from Level1Techs would agree..and sensibly so given he has a good bit of room to talk involving those type of sites. I'm almost willing to bet Gardner Bryant ( a web developer very fluent in using Firefox to do so) would agree also.

[Schultz]

If we're not careful we will be back to the dis ussion about green being a bad colour for the forum!

Or whether it's colour or color. Or criticising or criticizing.

[JoeFootball]

If we're not careful we will be back to the dis ussion about green being a bad colour for the forum!

Or whether it's colour or color. Or criticising or criticizing.

As per Pink Floyd's possibly prophetic song, Green Is the Colour.

[Hoser Rob]

Had a look at that blog linked b y the OP. To me it just looks like another crap blog from someone who can't get a real job in Linuix/Unix. I don't care what they say about this forum or much else.

[marlene]

I don't know on what cms runs the main LM website but the forum runs on phpbb that is impossible to migrate it to any other forum platform implemented in a WP installation. Not even with the WP forum plugins. Those who attempted it ( and I know some cases) ended up with a non functional forums.

So don't even think about changing this. It works just fine as it is and a modernization just for the sake of doing it will not add anything to its functionality other than a new set of colours that after a while will look boring and out of fashion too.

I personally find green a very nice and restful to the eyes colour.

[DPM]

Wordpress is a mess of a cms.

CMS? See a mess!

The website is fine IMO, though the international documentation should not be that hidden.

[rickNS]

I'm on the record as saying the LM website (not the forum) needs a refresh. Contrary to some opinions, the navigation is not good and there are other areas that would benefit with improvement. Summary here: viewtopic.php?p=1914477#p1914477

I think you make some good points in that post. In particular about navigation between the different Mint websites.
There is another OS that does a good job of this IMO, no I'm not talking about windows. I'm talking about Arch, I guess you'd call it a "link bar" at the top of the page that's common to the Home page, the wiki, the download, the repo, etc. You can easily get back, and forth to any part of Arch.

Like this (with a bit cut out of the middle)

I think Mint could benefit from the simple addition of the "link bar"?
Surely the different parts of Mint, Home (download) page, blog, forum, and community can't be in any kind of competition with each other, or are they ? As it makes zero logical sense to be separated the way they are. Yes I know you can / could have bookmarks to each, but...

[mfcallahan]

I'll volunteer some time to help rewrite and modernize it - where do I sign up?

[Portreve]

As a user of LM and a member of the LMF, my concern here chiefly revolves around what sort of demographic any rewording effort might be intended to appeal. For example, if the focus of such text was that LM is an alternative to Windows, or even to macOS and Windows, that misses the point of what GPL'd software is all about. Besides, "alternative" as either a word or an idea carries with it certain baggage; namely, the Economics 101 idea of subs and comps, which every person is familiar with, even if they're not aware of it as a formal concept.

I would equally be concerned if it's written in such a way that it appeals to the modern day equivalent of the 90s "AOL user". Not all potential "customers" are desirable.

I guess the ultimate question I have is: to whom are we not presently appealing to whom you think we should appeal?

I'm not attempting here to argue for any particular wording, not any particular change to the wording. Rather, I feel that a rising tide floats all the boats, and where effort would be best directed is to raise the visibility of GNU+Linux overall.

There's an old saying: be careful what you wish for, you may get it.

[majpooper]

The "link bar" is actually the best critical suggestion so far and makes a lot of sense.

[Mick-Cork]

As a user of LM and a member of the LMF, my concern here chiefly revolves around what sort of demographic any rewording effort might be intended to appeal.

I guess the ultimate question I have is: to whom are we not presently appealing to whom you think we should appeal?

If it was my project I think I would direct the content towards potential new Linux users who were already considering testing or using a Linux distribution. I would not use sales type language that aims to convert Mac or Windows users, but would seek to inform anyone who visits the site. Apart from some well structured navigation, examples of what I would focus the homepage on are:

a. Making it clear what LM is, and the options available
b. Highlighting the distro strengths and some of the differences between LM and other Linux offerings
c. Making the point that it's easy to download and test drive
d. Bringing attention to the strong community support
e. Displaying LM news headlines (with dates) - demonstrating the active nature of the project

Make it fairly concise so it's not info overload the first time you visit.

From a broader perspective, the distro does need to continually attract new users so just pitch it well at prospective Linux newbies.
Make them feel they're in the right place, and invite that test drive.

More users = more donations = more development resources = continual improvement = happy users = more users.

I'd also run an optin newsletter that simply lets signups know when there's a new blog/news article. This keeps an ongoing engagement with the userbase.

In essence I agree with your general concern, but as above I think the message could be directed towards those already considering the Linux route.

[VixyHox]

As someone who was doing distro hoping a bit ago and was trying to find information regarding different distros, Linux Mint's website doesn't provide much when doing a quick browse. Meaning, I'd love to see more information (even if it's just general information) provided on the downloads pages. I also think it would be a good idea to provide more details surrounding LMDE 4 on it's page. It's very barren, and I needed to do deeper research and diving to fully understand what it was about.

I would hate to see the website go the ways of all other sites and just be "simple and modern". I like some of the bars and menu placements of things and would hate for it to just turn into another plain site.

[defonotme]

I personally like the way the website is currently, but wouldn't mind a bit of a refresh!

[Schultz]

I'll volunteer some time to help rewrite and modernize it - where do I sign up?

"Modernize," code word for turning something into a piece of crap. I wanted to link to something, but evidently the board is not allowing it due to cuss words in the web address. I will put the address below without the offending letters, and it should be obvious what they are if anybody wants to go to it. If you are sensitive, don't go there (really, it is crass); however, it gives the proper sentiment of what a website should be. (I hope I don't get in trouble for it. )

https://motherf***ingwebsite.com/

[mfcallahan]

https://motherf***ingwebsite.com/

...however, it gives the proper sentiment of what a website should be.

Are you a computer science professor?

[Schultz]

Are you a computer science professor?

No, I'm not. So I'm not qualified to know what makes for a good web design then, right? You sound very elitist. You sound like you're part of the problem. Just my so-called unqualified opinion, right? And I guess the 74% (current poll status) that agree no change is needed are just ignoramuses like me, right?

[mfcallahan]

Relax, it was just a joke..look at the picture I posted..

[Moem]

I really like and agree to the request to keep all Mint related websites stylistically together: Linux Mint homepage, Linux Mint blog, Linux Mint community page, Linux Mint forum.

As happens often, I agree with Karlchen. The different sites look too different from each other, as I see it. It's hard to see them as parts of a whole.